“The people [responsible] for crippling the presidency have not stopped there; they have proposed a constitutional amendment in an attempt to cheat the people once again, and escape from the presidential elections,” Geagea said in a speech on Saturday night.

“It is as if the person proposing this constitutional reform has chosen to forget that neither the government nor the parliament are working as they should be, and there is no president.”

“The confrontation is still under way, and most of the Lebanese are on our side,” he added in reference to the presidential elections.

On June 30, Aoun called for amending the Lebanese constitution to permit direct presidential elections, to be held over two rounds, in which the people would vote directly for the president.

He suggested that in the first round, Christian voters would select two candidates, then in a second round, all Lebanese citizens would vote to choose between them.

Lebanon has had no president since May 25, when former president Michel Suleiman's mandate expired, as the two rival blocs that dominate politics have been unable to agree on a successor.

The Lebanese parliament has failed seven times to elect a president, each time unable to reach a quorum, as March 8 parliamentarians affiliated with Hezbollah and Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc have not participated in the sessions.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea. (AFP PHOTO)

It is as if the person proposing this constitutional reform has chosen to forget that neither the government nor the parliament are working as they should be, and there is no president.